Mary J. Blige Turns To God To Overcome Addiction

Mary J. Blige has revealed that the tragic death of Whitney Houston made her realize it was time to face her demon of alcohol addiction.

The proud born-again Christian revealed her decade-long battle with alcohol addiction to LA Confidential, sharing that she began focusing on her relationship with God instead of alcohol during the battle. The 42-year-old confessed that her alcohol addiction became worse after trying to cut back and only drink socially.

“I chose to learn how to drink socially and it didn’t work,” she said. “The test comes when you have to decide whether you’re drinking to be social or drinking to cover up something again. To cover up depression, to cover up guilt. Shame. Abandonment… Once I realized, ‘There you go again,’ I had to stop.”

In recent years Blige has openly discussed her tumultuous past that included cocaine and alcohol addiction, which began at the age of 16. She has explained that her dependency masked incidents of her childhood: insecurities about the way that she looked, and emotional pain that she experienced from an abusive relationship with former boyfriend K-Ci Hailey, a member of the R&B group Jodeci.

“I used to think I was ugly,” she told Black Heritage Radio. “I thought I looked like a camel. A person who doesn’t love themselves, they will see anything that pops up on their face. I’ve seen squirrels, I’ve seen a bird, and I’ve seen all kinds of animals on my face. But that is the result of self-hate. I’ve learned to say: ‘You know what? I am a beautiful black woman’.”